A Revenue Collector's Blog

…as the Broadway tune goes. COMPEX was this weekend up in Arlington Heights. As with most shows up in the Chicagoland area, rather then dealing with the fustercluck of traffic and construction the day of the show, I made the 3-hour drive the afternoon before and stayed at a hotel about 10 minutes away from the show… infinitely preferable to stressing about possibly being late due to unforeseen circumstances en route. In short: I despise Chicagoland traffic. I would go…

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This one turned out very well, in my opinion. Not a sound stamp, but infinitely more attractive now. I bought it on eBay specifically for a soaking attempt, thinking that I might be able to improve it. Warm to hot water, a few drops of dish soap, about 3 minutes using tongs to “pull” the stamp through the water, then a rinse in clean water, and then 3 days in a Desert Magic drying book with about 30 pounds of…

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Amongst collectors of U.S. revenues, the straight-line handstamp cancels from the Pacific Mail Steamship Co. are very popular and highly sought-after. Each cancel is the name of a ship that was used by the company, names including amongst others: China Japan Alaska Arizona Great Republic Henry Chauncey Montana Oregonian Rising Star Ocean Queen The cancels are visually very attractive. Examples in my collection can be found here. A simplistic valuation model would go as follows: As a baseline, each strike…

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Two lots that I bid on this past weekend that I got completely blown out of the water on. Both went considerably higher than I expected. Scott R194 $50 on 1900 stock entittlement, Atlantic, Valdosta & Western Rwy. SCV = $1,250. Sold for $1,320 including 10% buyer premium. The certificate is dated 1900, but the stamp wasn’t issued intil 1902. So either (1) the tax was paid retroactively, (2) there was a stock transfer or other transaction, or (3) this…

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